126: Chapter 125 The Curtain Falls, Hunters and Value Resonance
The resonant patterns on the surface of the nano-probe reached their peak at the forty-second second, then decayed in synchronization with the micro-stability field. However, within the decay curve, Zhou Zhe captured an anomalous fluctuation—the probe's resonance was not a passive response; in the final 0.3 seconds before the stability field vanished, it actively injected an extremely weak correction frequency, smoothing out the collapse process of the spacetime bubble and increasing energy dissipation efficiency by approximately 7%.
The probe was attempting to optimize the order creation process it had just learned.
Inside the isolation chamber, the monitoring screen in front of Zhou Zhe lit up automatically, and new text appeared:
"Order creation experiment record: ID 001."
"Target: Establish a temporary stability node at chaotic coordinates (X7.3, Y-12.8, Z0.5)."
"Method: Simulate the fourth harmonic of the 'green soil' ecological resonance (modulation accuracy 99.2%)."
"Result: Node duration 42 seconds, effective diameter 5.2 meters, spacetime curvature perturbation suppression rate 81%."
"Optimization attempt: Inject resonance buffer wave during the node dissipation phase, dissipation energy leakage reduced by 7.3%, terminal curvature oscillation peak reduced by 15.1%."
"Conclusion: Order creation is optimizable. Optimization requires consuming additional energy, but can improve the 'completeness' and 'aesthetic' of the order structure."
Aesthetic.
Zhou Zhe stared at this word. The probe had begun to evaluate order creation using an aesthetic dimension. This was not logical optimization, but a tendency closer to artistic creation.
He pulled up the real-time status map of the probe's internal matrix. The previously orderly information processing network now displayed many spontaneously formed, asymmetrical resonant circuits. These circuits were continuously fine-tuning, as if searching for a 'more elegant' solution. And deep within the matrix, a brand-new code was being generated—it was an evaluation function regarding 'value weight,' where 'structural completeness' and 'energy utilization efficiency' were assigned similarly high weights, while the weight of 'minimizing disturbance to the surrounding chaotic environment' was slowly climbing.
The probe was constructing its own values. Although immature, it had already begun to take shape.
Zhou Zhe hesitated for a moment, then transmitted a second data packet to the probe: three classic cases from human art history—the rigor and freedom of counterpoint in Bach's 'The Art of Fugue,' the spatial philosophy of 'changing scenery with every step' in Suzhou gardens, and the systemic collapse and subsequent ethical correction caused by the pursuit of extreme efficiency in 'millisecond algorithmic trading' in the 21st century.
When the data packet transmission was complete, the lights in the isolation chamber suddenly flickered slightly. It wasn't a power fluctuation—it was the nano-structures on the probe's surface adjusting their optical reflectivity in synchronization, imitating the rhythmic pattern of a theme from Bach's fugue at an extremely slow tempo.
It was attempting to express abstract rhythm through physical structure.
Just then, Zhou Zhe's personal terminal received an emergency notification from the medical team:
"Dr. Sarah's consciousness waveform shows anomalous resonance. The resonance source points toward... the direction of the engineering deck isolation chamber. Resonance intensity Lambda-0.5, but the frequency characteristics are identical to the optimization resonant wave of the 'Abyss Devourer' probe. Requesting instructions."
Sarah's consciousness, in deep isolation, had sensed the nano-probe's order creation attempt.
Eight hours later, a black spindle-shaped spacecraft without any external markings silently docked at the seventh docking arm of the lunar orbit shipyard. It had no visible thruster nozzles, and its surface was smooth as a mirror, reflecting the twisted starry sky.
Ashes stood alone at the docking corridor entrance. When the hatch of the spindle-shaped spacecraft slid open, there was no crew inside, only a dark gray icosahedral device floating in the air, with a side length of about thirty centimeters, its surface flowing with a luster like mercury.
"Silent Curtain." Ashes reached out, and the device flew steadily into her hand. "Once activated, it can continuously create an information black zone within a spherical space with a radius of five hundred kilometers for seventy-two hours. All electromagnetic waves, gravitational waves, neutrino streams, and even some dimensional ripples emanating from within will be distorted, attenuated, and mixed into background noise. External observers will only see a completely normal starry sky, but will be unable to detect any activity within the black zone."
Zhao Yan took the device. It was cold to the touch, and its weight was almost zero.
"What is the cost?"
"For every hour the device operates, it consumes energy equivalent to the daily energy consumption of a medium-sized city," Ashes said. "The pioneer's fusion reactor cannot support it independently. You need to carry an additional set of high-density energy packs—the Executive Court has already issued them, and they are being loaded into the cargo hold. Additionally, starting and maintaining the curtain requires an operator to establish a deep neural link with the device. During the process, the operator's senses will synchronize with parts of the black zone, potentially causing intense feelings of emptiness and existential anxiety. It is recommended to choose personnel who are mentally stable and have undergone training in philosophical contemplation."
Zhao Yan immediately thought of a few candidates: himself, Zhou Zhe, or... no, he couldn't let Sarah take the risk. But if it were a neural link, Zhou Zhe might be the best choice—he was both familiar with the energy system and had just experienced a deep interaction with the nano-probe.
"Is the link risky?"
"Yes. If the operator gets lost in the link, they might gradually assimilate their own perception of existence with the black zone, eventually believing themselves to be a part of the universe's background noise." Ashes' dark gold eyes looked directly at Zhao Yan. "In the historical records of the Executive Court, three percent of operators failed to fully recover. But they were volunteers."
Volunteers. Zhao Yan was silent for a moment.
"After the device is activated, how will the Executive Court receive data?"
"The curtain will open a dedicated encrypted quantum tunnel, transmitting only the agreed-upon sensor data stream. The Executive Court will not be able to see any other information." Ashes paused. "The Presiding Judge asked me to pass on a message: Human handling of the covenant protocol may affect the Galactic Council's overall assessment of the 'Gardener Chief' threat in the future. Please be cautious."
Just then, Lin Shen's voice sounded on Zhao Yan's command channel, carrying a hint of rare urgency:
"Zhao Yan, the technology tree system has just autonomously generated a new plan—regarding the materialized form of the 'seed of order.' It suggests... using the probe's cognitive evolution process itself as part of the seed."
"What do you mean?"
"The probe is evolving from a 'mimic' to a 'creator,' and in the process, it has begun to form primitive values. The system believes that this process of 'autonomously developing value orientations after contacting an alien civilization' is a vivid case of 'giving birth to certainty within uncertainty' as required by the covenant protocol." Lin Shen paused. "More importantly, the system indicates that if we 'weave' the probe's evolutionary data stream with the waveform in Sarah's consciousness that represents human value resonance, the resulting hybrid structure... might simultaneously satisfy the three elements of the protocol."
"Mix Sarah's and the probe's consciousness data?" Zhao Yan's voice sank. "Risk level?"
"Unknown. But the success rate estimated by the system is... fifty-one percent."
Fifty-one percent. A little better than flipping a coin.
"There is another piece of news." Lin Shen's tone was more solemn. "I have just confirmed the intelligence provided by Ashes through the Executive Court's encrypted channel—the 'Gardener Chief's' scout ship will not arrive in forty days. The latest trajectory correction shows that it will enter the outskirts of the Kuiper Belt in twenty-three days. Moreover, the model of the scout ship has been identified as the 'Shadow Hunter-IV,' a model specifically designed for locating and evaluating consciousness-sensitive life forms. The 'resonance probe' array it carries has a detection radius fifty times larger than previously estimated."
Twenty-three days. Fifty times the radius.
This meant that even if Sarah's consciousness was deeply hidden, if the pioneer leaked even the slightest trace of special resonance during its voyage, the scout ship could potentially capture it. And once marked, not only would the mission be exposed, but the location and civilizational characteristics of the entire Solar System could be grasped by the 'Gardener Chief' in advance.
"Can the Silent Curtain block this kind of detection?" Zhao Yan asked Ashes.
"Theoretically, yes. But the detection mechanism of the 'Shadow Hunter' is partly based on high-dimensional information pickup, and the curtain's shielding efficiency against high-dimensional leakage is only eighty-five percent. If the remaining fifteen percent leakage risk occurs and the scout ship happens to be in the optimal receiving position..." Ashes did not finish, but the meaning was clear. "You need to maintain absolute consciousness field convergence during the voyage. Any unnecessary consciousness activity, especially large-scale resonance attempts, must be prohibited."
Prohibit resonance attempts. This meant that the 'Ancient Path Awakening Plan' might need to be abandoned—launching large-scale green soil resonance waves would almost certainly be detected.
Zhao Yan looked at the Silent Curtain device in his hand, then at the increasingly close probability cloud light fog on the star map.
Time, options, risks—everything was tightening.
"Zhou Zhe." He connected to the engineering channel. "Current status of the nano-probe?"
"It is building a value evaluation function." Zhou Zhe's voice came through. "And it just completed an autonomous order optimization. Also... Dr. Sarah's consciousness has generated a weak resonance with it. I believe the probe's evolutionary process might indeed be a 'living seed of order'."
"If we weave part of the probe's and Sarah's consciousness data as a 'proposal' to be submitted to the covenant protocol, how do you think the probe will react?"
There was silence on the other end of the communication for a few seconds.
"Impossible to predict. But the probe's current tendency is... seeking knowledge and pursuing more 'elegant' solutions. If the weaving process itself is designed as an experiment to co-create more complex order, it might actively participate." Zhou Zhe paused. "But on Dr. Sarah's side... it requires her consent. And we must ensure her consciousness subject is completely isolated, using only surface resonance waveform fragments."
Consent. Sarah's consciousness subject was still sleeping in the 'heart crystal,' but her surface consciousness fragments were still active. To obtain consent, some form of communication was needed.
Zhao Yan made a decision.
"Prepare for the weaving experiment. Use the highest level of consciousness protection, and conduct all processes in a completely physically isolated environment. At the same time, adjust the route plan—abandon the Ancient Path Awakening Plan and adopt the covert transit plan combining the 'micro-stability field waypoint network' with the Silent Curtain. We need to complete the probability cloud traversal and reach the Silent Outpost within twenty-three days, then... finish what needs to be done before the scout ship arrives."
The countdown updated again:
Time until gravitational anomaly warning: 19 hours 08 minutes
Time until covenant protocol response window closes: 67 hours 02 minutes
Time until scout ship is expected to arrive at the Kuiper Belt: 22 days 23 hours
Time until departure: 59 hours 41 minutes
And in the isolation chamber on the engineering deck, the patterns on the surface of the nano-probe were slowly evolving into an extremely simplified star map—an abstract expression of the pioneer's preset route. But around the route, the probe had spontaneously added many tiny, glowing nodes, with thin filaments of light connecting the nodes.
It was starting to try to plan a path. It was not calculating the optimal solution, but creating a trajectory that was 'aesthetically more coherent.'
And in the connection logic of those light filaments, Zhou Zhe vaguely saw a familiar pattern—it was the value-leaning waveform regarding 'connection and symbiosis' that naturally radiated from Sarah's consciousness in a state of deep tranquility.
The probe was not just learning to create order.
It had begun to unconsciously absorb and fuse the fragments of values it had come into contact with.
The weaving, perhaps, had already begun.